August 31 - There's Something There That Wasn't There Before
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 31
Title: There’s Something There That Wasn’t There Before
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Star Trek Voyager
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Star Trek people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Buffy thinks about the Borg and it doesn’t lead where she suspected.
Notes: This story is part of my “The Path Less Taken” universe.
Seasons: Post-Series/Before S3Ep24
Characters: Buffy, Tuvok
Word Count: 585
Buffy sat down hard. She had been trying to put together a profile on one of her patients. Crewman Chell, a Bolian, was a nearly constant complainer. What she really needed to find was something for him to do. If he felt useful, maybe he could bury his gloom and doom and whining.
The problem was they were traveling ever closer to Borg territory with no clear idea when they would cross the invisible barrier and be detected. It had caused a lot of anxiety on the ship. The crew had swarmed to speak their fears: to each other, to Chakotay, to Neelix, and to Buffy. Those in charge of the crew morale and mental health were the ones who understood best the raw tension on the ship.
Buffy was by no means immune. She had faced off with the Borg at Wolf 359. It had been a bloodbath, one she had survived only because she could not die in the vacuum of space, or at all. The very thought of facing the Borg terrified her too.
Yet there was something…niggling in the back of her mind. Her mind went a bit foggy when she thought about the Borg, almost like there was something in the corner that she was not supposed to look at too closely. She had not noticed it most of her existence, but as they had started their journey through the Delta Quadrant, they had started talking and thinking about the Borg. She had found there was something there.
So she had spent time meditating, trying to find the source. After two years she was still unsure what it was. Some part of her suspected it was magic, but that would mean it would have been done over three hundred years ago when magic still existed. Someone messing with her memory, but the memories had not been removed, just hidden.
Realizing her mind had wondered too far from work, Buffy set down her PADD. She would need to abandon it work until the next morning.
She stood, stretching out her torso, trying to relieve a kink in her back. The bell chimed as she reached the door.
“Tuvok,” she said in surprise.
“Counselor,” he greeted.
She looked at him, trying to discern the reason for his visit. Then she recalled. “I was supposed to meet you for dinner twenty minutes ago,” she said apologetically.
“I assume you had forgotten or a session ran long.”
“Neither actually. I seemed to have gotten lost in thought.” She gestured him out of the office. “We’ll go have dinner now, if you’re still agreeable.”
“Indeed.”
They walked quietly to the mess hall and sat. Neelix immediately sprang up with some new dish and they were left alone.
“You appear deep in thought,” Tuvok said.
Buffy nearly jumped at the words. “I’m sorry, Tuvok. There’s this…gap or missing piece of my memory.”
“You are approaching four hundred years of age,” he reminded her. “Perhaps you are beginning to show the limit of human memory.”
She shook her head. “It’s not like that. It…it’s more…it’s all related to the Borg. Only thinking about them makes me feel like I’m not getting the complete picture.”
“Have you had interactions with them outside of Wolf 359?”
“No…I don’t think so.” She frowned and squeezed her eyes shut. “There’s something else…the Borg make me think of…Willow.”
Tuvok raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.
“I think…” she opened her eyes, “I don’t think Willow died the way I’ve remembered it for three hundred years.”
Title: There’s Something There That Wasn’t There Before
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Star Trek Voyager
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Star Trek people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Buffy thinks about the Borg and it doesn’t lead where she suspected.
Notes: This story is part of my “The Path Less Taken” universe.
Seasons: Post-Series/Before S3Ep24
Characters: Buffy, Tuvok
Word Count: 585
Buffy sat down hard. She had been trying to put together a profile on one of her patients. Crewman Chell, a Bolian, was a nearly constant complainer. What she really needed to find was something for him to do. If he felt useful, maybe he could bury his gloom and doom and whining.
The problem was they were traveling ever closer to Borg territory with no clear idea when they would cross the invisible barrier and be detected. It had caused a lot of anxiety on the ship. The crew had swarmed to speak their fears: to each other, to Chakotay, to Neelix, and to Buffy. Those in charge of the crew morale and mental health were the ones who understood best the raw tension on the ship.
Buffy was by no means immune. She had faced off with the Borg at Wolf 359. It had been a bloodbath, one she had survived only because she could not die in the vacuum of space, or at all. The very thought of facing the Borg terrified her too.
Yet there was something…niggling in the back of her mind. Her mind went a bit foggy when she thought about the Borg, almost like there was something in the corner that she was not supposed to look at too closely. She had not noticed it most of her existence, but as they had started their journey through the Delta Quadrant, they had started talking and thinking about the Borg. She had found there was something there.
So she had spent time meditating, trying to find the source. After two years she was still unsure what it was. Some part of her suspected it was magic, but that would mean it would have been done over three hundred years ago when magic still existed. Someone messing with her memory, but the memories had not been removed, just hidden.
Realizing her mind had wondered too far from work, Buffy set down her PADD. She would need to abandon it work until the next morning.
She stood, stretching out her torso, trying to relieve a kink in her back. The bell chimed as she reached the door.
“Tuvok,” she said in surprise.
“Counselor,” he greeted.
She looked at him, trying to discern the reason for his visit. Then she recalled. “I was supposed to meet you for dinner twenty minutes ago,” she said apologetically.
“I assume you had forgotten or a session ran long.”
“Neither actually. I seemed to have gotten lost in thought.” She gestured him out of the office. “We’ll go have dinner now, if you’re still agreeable.”
“Indeed.”
They walked quietly to the mess hall and sat. Neelix immediately sprang up with some new dish and they were left alone.
“You appear deep in thought,” Tuvok said.
Buffy nearly jumped at the words. “I’m sorry, Tuvok. There’s this…gap or missing piece of my memory.”
“You are approaching four hundred years of age,” he reminded her. “Perhaps you are beginning to show the limit of human memory.”
She shook her head. “It’s not like that. It…it’s more…it’s all related to the Borg. Only thinking about them makes me feel like I’m not getting the complete picture.”
“Have you had interactions with them outside of Wolf 359?”
“No…I don’t think so.” She frowned and squeezed her eyes shut. “There’s something else…the Borg make me think of…Willow.”
Tuvok raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.
“I think…” she opened her eyes, “I don’t think Willow died the way I’ve remembered it for three hundred years.”